Chong

Alice Chong outside the HQ building at Kunming in 1944, holding the Dachshund puppy that her roommate Eloise Witwer gave to General Chennault. Chennault named the dog “Little Joe” and then changed its name to “Joe-Dog” after it grew up. The name, of course, was a way of getting back at his nemesis, General Joseph Stilwell because, as Chennault would...

Alice Chong pressed into public relations duty at Kunming during the winter of 1943-44. When a visiting troupe of USO entertainers, Hollywood actors, visited the 14th U.S. Army Air Force base, Alice was detailed to lead them around, answer their questions, translate for them, and in general make them feel at home. Of the four Hollywood actors at center, Edmund...

Alice Chong and Captain Addison Bailey dance while another GI plays guitar. Captain Addison Bailey was Alice's immediate supervisor. He was a Jazz pianist in New York City before the war, and went back to this after the war as well. The guitar player (name currently unknown) in Bailey’s 14th Air Force band was one of the original “Hillbilly Musicians”...

Alice Chong sitting on the bumper of a British truck in Shanghai in February or March of 1938. This is after the evacuation of many Ginling College girls to Shanghai, fleeing the violence of the Japanese attack on Nanjing in the preceding two months. Many other Ginling College (金陵女子大学) girls are also in the photo. Alice led the Ginling College...

Alice Chong on the Kunming air strip posing before a C-54 with some of her 14th U.S.A.A.F buddies in 1944. Note the blood chit prominently-displayed inside the flying jacket of the Colonel Pilot at center rear. Captain Addison Bailey (in dark shirt) to Alice’s immediate right-all others unidentified. (Images and information primarily courtesy of Brian Dillon.)

Alice Kim Chong (1909-1972; Chinese names 张秀金 and 张秀俊) was one of Claire Chennault’s two female interpreters at Kunming between 1943 and 1945. Here they are outside the HQ building at Kunming in 1943. Eloise Witwer, Alice’s roommate and best friend, at left. Alice Kim Chong (1909-1972) at right. Alice Chong was American-Born Chinese, born on Kauai, and educated (B.A...

Pyramid-shaped air raid shelter used by Chennault in Kunming during WWII, in the midst of an air raid. In this image, Chennault is standing toward left, looking at the Japanese bombing out of scene of the left. In the middle, an American GI makes plots on a map board. Air vents can be seen protruding from the top, and garden...